Maladie du Coeur
by CanadianPenguin
Summary: AU. Arthur sits alone in the hospital, hoping. Francis stumbles into his room one day during an incident with a crazy nurse. FrUK
1. Chapter 1

This is my first fanfic. Please read and review.

I don't own Hetalia Axis Powers, if I did I wouldn't be writing a fanfic and FrUK would be canon.

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"Who the bloody hell are you?" Francis turned around but didn't move from his position of cowering behind the potted plant. His luck was seriously horrible today. First, he'd lost track of time and probably stood up a date. Then he'd realised visiting hours were over and on his way out the insane nurse had started chasing after him, and she was still prowling outside in the hallway. And now the hospital room he had hidden in seemed to have an inhabitant. A _British_ inhabitant.

How had he gotten himself into this mess?

...

Francis had spent at least an hour a day, _every _day at the hospital every since the accident. Sometimes Gilbert was there, more often than not Lovino was there, and there were a lot of pretty nurses. But it was pretty boring. He didn't even know why he came. The doctor had said Antonio might never wake up.

He usually just sat in a chair, looking at the machines hooked up to Antonio and waited. Or he did homework. Today he had dozed of, and when he had woken up the sun had practically set. He had jumped up and tiptoed towards the door. He had almost made it to the elevator when the crazy nurse (he was pretty sure her name was Natalia) had come running around the corner.

Nobody in the hospital wasn't afraid of Natalia, and she really hated Francis (which he really didn't get because he'd only flirted with her brother twice). Common sense deserted him and, though she was far away and the elevator door was open, he'd ran for the stairs. He had made it down to the third floor before he realised she was getting closer and decided to find a room to hide in. He'd dashed around a few corners trying to lose her and finally pulled open a door and hurriedly got inside. Then, for good measure, he'd hidden behind a plant.

"Get out." The person spoke again, bringing Francis back to the present. He brought his finger to his lips, made a shushing noise, and gestured toward the door. Outside in the hallway the nurse had started throwing open doors. It sounded like she was getting closer.

Francis wasn't sure what she would do when she found him, but he didn't really want to find out.

...

Mondays sucked. Arthur still thought so even though it had been a while since he'd been allowed to go to school. This Monday was even more horrible than most though. He had a headache and felt sick, so he'd been up half the previous night _and_ he hadn't had anything to take his mind off the crappiness of the day except Spanish soap operas. And he didn't speak Spanish.

Then, some idiot had come bursting into his room and hid behind the plant. Just when he was getting to sleep. And the bastard had the nerve to shush him. He had half a mind to shout for the nurse, but he was pretty sure it was Natalia after the the guy. She was a bitch and he didn't feel like helping her. She'd come into his room at some point and drag the idiot off to do whatever the hell she did to people who stayed past visiting hours. Or to people who pissed her off. Maybe he'd done both. One could only hope.

Arthur put his head back on his pillows and tried to sleep. Not that he'd be able to with someone messing around in his room. His headache was getting worse.

The door opened.

"Have you seen a blond guy? I need to find him so I can kill hi-, er, I mean, get him out of the hospital."

Arthur opened his eyes and looked at the plant. It hadn't been much of a hiding place and there was no blond guy in sight. He sighed, the idiot had probably found somewhere better to hide. At least he seemed to be gone. Arthur shook his head (it would be too much trouble to explain) and the nurse took one last look around before leaving. Finally. He might actually be able to get some sleep.

"_Merci_." Never mind, the guy was under his bed. And he was french. That explained the rudeness.

"Get out of my room right now and never come back."

"But Natalia's still outside, and you heard her, she wants to kill me." Great. The frog was whining, it was really grating on his nerves. All he wanted to do was sleep. Did God hate him or something?

"She meant it metaphorically." There was silence, blessed silence, maybe the frog was gone. Arthur opened one eye. Nope, he was still there, probably wondering how you could metaphorically kill someone. Not that Arthur was exactly sure himself, but...

"No need to be rude." Ha, rude. _Arthur_ was the rude one, talk about the pot calling the kettle back. "But, I think she's gone, so hopefully, I'll never have to see you again." Bastard.

The blond opened the door, looked both ways like he was crossing the street or something (idiot) and tentatively stepped out of the room. Then he was gone, hopefully forever. Arthur listened to the running footsteps as they got farther and farther away.

He really needed a sign on his door that said Keep Out. His headache was getting even worse and he felt like throwing up. Mondays sucked.

...

Luckily, Francis didn't run into anyone on his way out. But he was feeling pretty pissed off. Something about the British kid had rubbed him the wrong way. He looked at his watch and cursed. Eight forty-six. His date had been at seven. There was absolutely no way Maria had waited that long.

He heard a loud noise from up above and turned just in time to get hit in the face with a bedpan. _Merde_, the nurse was throwing hospital equipment now. Francis ran for it hoping it wouldn't cause permanent damage and that Natalia wouldn't throw anything harder.

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_Merci _is thank you in French, _merde_ means shit in French.

Thank you for reading. I want to become a better author so please tell me what you thought of it.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you for the reviews. They made me want to write so this chapter is up faster then I thought it would be.

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It had been a week exactly since the incident with the Brit. Things had been normal. If Francis's life could be considered normal. Which it probably couldn't, Francis thought mournfully.

School was out for the day so Francis was heading to the hospital. Neither Gilbert or Lovino could go to the hospital, they both had things to do. While Lovino probably wouldn't be very good company anyway and Gilbert had stayed up most of the night playing video games, just staring at Antonio could get very boring. If only Antonio had a room mate that Francis could talk to (or flirt with).

At the hospital (which was called Hetalia Hospital for no reason that Francis could think of) Francis took the elevator to the seventh floor, and walked into Antonio's room. Antonio was nowhere to be seen, and for a moment hope and dread competed for the emotion he was feeling. But the hospital staff would have phoned him if...

Francis peeked out of the room, but there was only Natalia manning the help desk and he _really _wasn't that desperate. So, instead, he went to the patient sitting in the bed. The girl looked about ten but she might know something.

"Excuse me, miss." The girl looked up. She was quite pretty, Francis thought, but too young. "Do you happen to know where the person who used to be in this room went? He's my friend."

"I think they moved him." Her voice was soft, but not overly quiet. Francis breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"Thank you, do you know where they moved him?" She probably didn't, he thought, suddenly glum, he'd have to face Natalia then.

"No, I'm really sorry." She looked upset. What a nice girl, a pity she wasn't older.

"Oh, well. Thank you for your help." He began to walk towards the door.

"Bye-bye. It was nice meeting you."

To Francis's surprise and relief, Natalia was not behind the help desk. Instead a pretty nurse with large, er, assets was there. How nice. Francis walked over to her.

"Excuse me."

The nurse jumped. "Oh, hello. Sorry, I didn't see you there. Um, can I help you?"

"Why, yes, you can help me." Francis smiled flirtatiously. "There was someone named Antonio in room 126, I think he's been moved. Can you tell me where?"

"Antonio? Oh, yes, my sister was looking after him, right? Just a second I'll find where we've put him." The nurse started typing something on the computer.

"Your sister?" The only nurse taking care of Antonio had been Natalia. Francis was not a stupid person.

"Natalia," the nurse said absent-mindedly. Remembering Natalia's reaction to Francis flirting with her brother Francis decided there were always more fish in the sea. A few minutes passed as the nurse typed on the keyboard. "Oh, here. Antonio has been moved to the third floor, room 54. Sorry if you were inconvenienced. Have a nice day." She smiled at him.

Francis took the elevator, hoping he'd be able to find his way to the room. The hospital was like a maze though, and soon he was lost. Spotting a brown haired nurse he walked over and asked her if she knew where room 54 was. The nurse told him he was close and since she was going to the room anyway, she could show him the way. She also told him to "please call me Elizaveta".

As he followed Elizaveta, Francis started to recognize the route. What if... But no way, he couldn't be _that _unlucky. They stopped in front of a door. A very familiar door. Francis groaned mentally, his earlier thoughts of a room mate for Antonio coming back to him.

Elizaveta knocked on the door and Francis thought he heard a quiet "go away". The nurse either didn't hear or just didn't care, and opened the door.

Inside the hospital room the Brit's bed had been pushed over closer to the window to make some space between his and Antonio's bed. But the room was still crowded, and the plant Francis remembered hiding behind was gone, probably to make more room. There was only one chair for visitors in between the two beds.

Thankfully the Brit seemed to be asleep, and Francis decided he'd only imagined hearing anything. He sat down in the chair, turning it to face Antonio and Elizaveta looked at the room for a while before sighing and turning to go. Just before she left the room, Elizaveta turned around and said, "if he wakes up, can you tell him I was here?" Then she left without waiting for an answer.

After about five minutes Francis got bored of staring at Antonio so he turned around, sat on the seat backwards, and stared at the Brit instead. He was surprised to notice he wasn't much younger than Francis, it had been dark the last time and he hadn't really been paying attention. His hair was messy and he had _huge_ eyebrows. But he was pretty cute, Francis decided.

Just as he was coming to that conclusion the Brit opened his eyes. He had nice eyes, they were bright green and large for a boy. "Stop looking at me," he commanded. His voice didn't sound sleepy at all. Had he been faking?

"Your nurse was just here."

"I know." The Brit rolled his eyes. "Go away."

"I don't want to." Francis winced at how childish that sounded. But it was true. Or at least it would be if the Brit wasn't there.

He rolled his eyes again. "Fine. Whatever. Just don't bother me."

"You're not doing anything, I don't see how I can be bothering you, _rosbif_." As soon as the words were out he regretted them. The Brit _glared_. If it had been anyone else Francis wouldn't have worried. But those _eyebrows_. Francis gulped, half expecting the Brit to jump out of his bed and start trying to strangle him.

"_Arthur_."

Francis blinked. "Pardon?"

"My _name_. Arthur. If you _really_ feel the need to talk to me, not that I'm encouraging you to, _use it_." And with that, Arthur turned around and pulled the covers over his head. Francis didn't bother him.

Later Elizaveta returned and told Francis visiting hours were over. He left the hospital wondering if he'd actually come back. Things would never be boring with Arthur there but he would probably be risking his health.

But, he thought, smiling slightly, the other teen was interesting. He seemed like he would be a fun person to tease. Anyway, he wanted to be there when Antonio woke up.

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I tried to make the chapter longer but it ended up about the same length as the last one. Was Francis out of character? I tried but he's hard for me to write. Anyways, thank you again for the reviews and favs and alerts.


	3. Chapter 3

It took a while and it's still so short. Sorry.

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Arthur felt like he never got enough sleep. Sometimes he had nightmares or was woken up by a nurse and was unable to get back to sleep. Sometimes he couldn't get to sleep in the first place. He also tended to fall asleep during the day since there was nothing to do and end up not tired when it got to be night. So was it any surprise that when he found himself woken up by a loud, annoying voice yelling about chicks he got into a rather bad mood?

Only one thing to do. "Would you _please_ be quiet." He noticed with some satisfaction that the people in the room jumped. Judging by the hair it was the french bastard again. And he'd brought a friend. _Great_.

They whirled around. "Why should I?" The albino had spoken, his voice was challenging.

"I didn't ask you to shut up. I told you to be quiet. You're loud enough to wake the dead." Arthur didn't want to argue, he really didn't, but the albino had the promise to be even worse than the frog. And he was _tired_.

"You-" the albino started, but he was stopped by the frog putting a hand over his mouth and saying, "be quiet, Gilbert, _s'il te plait_." He smiled, probably trying to be charming or nice or something, "Sorry."

"Hmph." He would have tried to go back to sleep (and probably not succeeded) if Elizaveta had not chosen that moment to enter the room. She was carrying a tray. Arthur groaned. Food. He tried to pretend to be asleep. Maybe she wouldn't notice he'd been sitting up. He opened his eyes slightly.

Elizaveta smiled at him, not a happy smile, or really an angry smile either, more of an I've-seen-through-your-plan smile. "You missed lunch, I made sure to get you extra dinner. I know you're awake. Get up and eat."

Arthur sighed and sat up and looked at his dinner, he noticed the other two looking at it as well. The albino, Gilbert, looked faintly horrified. "That's food?" He asked in a whisper. Everyone ignored him. On the tray was lumpy white stuff (mashed potatoes), mushy green stuff (hopefully mashed peas, though why anyone would mash his peas was beyond him), and slimy looking yellow stuff (Arthur had no idea what that was).

Elizaveta stared at Arthur with sympathy. "Sorry about the food. But there's nothing I can do about it. It's healthy." She seemed to be trying to not look doubtful. "Eat it. I'll be back in ten minutes." She turned and walked away.

"Do you really have to eat _that_?" Gilbert asked.

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Where else is it going to go?" He stared at the 'food' for a moment, then looked up. "Unless either of you wants it?" He offered hopefully.

Both shook their heads quickly and sat back down, staring at their friend again. Arthur looked at his tray and shook his head sadly. He choked down the mashed potatoes and peas as fast as he could. But when he took a bite of the yellow stuff he retched and gulped down half his water to get the taste out of his mouth. Nasty. Arthur glanced at the frog and the albino. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

He cleared his throat quietly. "Excuse me." They looked around in surprise. "Can one of you open the window?" They stared at him, confused.

"Why?" The frog wanted to know.

"Just do it," he said testily. Elizaveta would be back soon.

The frog went over to the window and pushed it open. Arthur leaned over and stuck his tray out the window, turning it upside down. The yellow stuff stuck for a moment, then detached itself with a squelch and fell. Gilbert rushed to the window and everyone looked down. The 'food' landed with a plop, luckily not on anyone, not that Arthur would have really cared. There was a patch of yellow on the sidewalk though, so he would have to stop Elizaveta from looking out the window for a while.

"What-" the frog was interrupted by the door opening. Elizaveta stepped in and looked at them curiously.

"What are you doing?" Before Arthur could say 'nothing' she went on, "is there something outside?"

"No." Arthur said hurriedly. "Nothing. Just an, um, cloud." Elizaveta opened her mouth but Arthur continued, "I finished my... 'food'."

"_Sit down_." He hissed almost silently at the Gilbert and the frog as Elizaveta walked over to get the tray. As she inspected it he held his breath. All she would have to do was glance out the window. But she didn't. She smiled at him and left.

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. "Aren't you going to say thank you?" The frog. Sitting on _his _bed. Arthur glared at him, wanting to say something rude. But it _was_ good manners.

"Thank you," he said grudgingly. "Frog."

The frog smiled indulgently. Infuriating. Arthur glared. "Francis." Arthur raised an eyebrow. "That's what I'm called. I don't think I've introduced myself."

"I don't care."

Francis chuckled. "You should. I'll visit here until Antonio," he pointed at the brown haired person, pausing slightly. "Wakes up."

Arthur snorted. "Oh, really?"

Francis raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I?"

"For one, he's in a coma. Why visit?" He smiled slightly. "And for another, I usually drive away my room mate's visitors. And the room mates. There's nothing better to do and they tend to be annoying. Like you. I bet you won't last a month." Arthur resisted the urge to add a "so there" and stick out his tongue. Just barely.

Francis stared at him for a few seconds, plainly shocked. Then he seemed to get his wits together. "I bet I'll last longer." He smirked. "Much longer."

Interesting. Things _had _been getting boring before Francis showed up. "What'll you bet then?"

"If I win... you'll go on a date with me." The Frenchman smirked at him.

Arthur spluttered and turned red. "What! No way, never! Definitely not."

His smirk got wider. "But you were so sure you'd win. Don't tell me you're backing out?"

Arthur got his blush under control and tried to calm down. "Hmph. Obviously I'll win." He paused for a second, thinking. "You don't have anything I want. I'll just be happy when you go."

"So if I visit every day for longer than a month I win?" Arthur nodded. "I've already been doing that. This will be easy."

Before he could reply Gilbert yawned. "If you're done I think we need to leave."

Glancing at the clock, Arthur realized he was right. Time had passed quickly. It'd been almost enjoyable. Maybe having people in his room wouldn't be that bad... No! He definitely didn't want Francis and his friend here. He tried to convince himself the month would drag by slowly. Not that the frog would last that long. No way.

"_Au revoir, sourcils_." Arthur decided to ignore him and lay down on his side, facing the wall.

When he heard the door close he turned a bit, lying on his back. He stayed there, still, staring at the ceiling as if it held the secrets of the universe, thinking. It took a long time before he was able to fall asleep.

...

_Looking back I think I wanted him to win the bet. Prove me wrong. That someone could actually put up with me for more than a month._

_But I wonder what he was thinking when he asked me on a date._

* * *

Hospital food sucks.

s'il te plait - please (not formal)

Au revoir - bye

sourcils - eyebrows


End file.
